What Happened to Lost Son Thomas Vanlandingham?
Richard
Vanlandingham: 1740?-1811 (Maternal Fourth Granduncle)
Thomas
Vanlandingham: 1791-? (Maternal First Cousin 5x Removed)
While trying
to track down the individuals named in the 1774 will of George Vanlandingham of
Northumberland, Virginia (my husband’s fifth-great-grandfather on his mother’s
side), I got sidetracked by his son Richard Vanlandingham and Richard’s own
unique will.
Richard
was first mentioned in his father George’s 1774 will as follows:
“To son
Richard Vanlandingham 40 shillings in lieu of a mare that his grandfather
Richard Brown let me hold for him.”
Of course,
I wondered immediately what happened to the mare. Did the horse die? Did George
sell the beast despite his father-in-law’s instructions? And is a mere forty
shillings really adequate compensation for a horse?
The will
also specified that six of George’s children—George Adams Vanlandingham,
Mandley Brown Vanlandingham, Winney Vanlandingham, Elizabeth Vanlandingham,
Thomas Vanlandingham, and Ezekiel Vanlandingham-- were to receive equal shares in his land and
property once his wife and sister were dead—the wife, Mary, and sister
Elizabeth had life-rights to it. This share of land was the key to my finding
out what happened to son Richard.
The only
problem with this instruction in the will: George had eight children. Two were
left out of the list of six, although both were mentioned elsewhere in the will:
Richard and Henry. Was this oversight intentional or a mere error on the part
of the attorney writing up the will? It appears to have been intentional. The
will went on to state that if, when the estate was divided, each of the six
children received at least six pounds, that son Henry receive a portion of the
remainder. Nothing for poor Richard.
Richard
and Henry were George’s two eldest sons, and both had established households
before their father’s death. I hypothesize that they were left out of the
initial will division because they had already received some sort of settlement
from their father. Either that, or George was really angry with Richard and
Henry.
Richard
left Virginia, moving to Rockingham, North Carolina. There are no records that
show whether he left following his father’s death, or before. At some point, he
married. Several trees list his wife’s name as Hattie Hartley, but I have as of
yet found no verifying records. The couple had children, although their names
and birth dates are as yet unconfirmed.
 |
| 1811 Map of North Carolina |
Richard
appears on the 1790 census in Rockingham with seven people in his household:
himself, three males under 16, and three females, ages unspecified. I
hypothesize that this indicates Richard and his wife had three young sons and
two daughters. By the 1800 census, the household included one male child under
10, one female child between 10 and 15, and one woman between the ages of 16
and 25, plus Richard and his wife, a male and female over 45. This could be
explained by two sons growing up and leaving the home or dying during the
intervening years, while the remaining three children were among the five
included on the 1790 census.
The 1810
census finds Richard’s household further reduced. There is just Richard, a male
over 45 (by this time he was probably in his sixties as his birth date is
supposedly 1846.), a male child between 10 and 15, and a female between 26 and
44. My hypothesis? Richard’s wife has died—the female over 45 is now gone. So
who is the younger woman? Rather than a second wife, I suspect it is either a
widowed daughter or daughter-in-law and her son. Of course it could be a
housekeeper along with her child. There is a remote possibility the woman is a
second wife; records in Warren County, NC, a distant 144 miles from Richard’s
home, show a Richard Vanlandingham marrying a woman named Jeane Rigon in 1803.
However, I suspect that marriage referred to another man named Richard
Vanlandingham, a member of a completely separate Vanlandingham family who
resided in Warren County.
So how do
I know that the Richard Vanlandingham who appears on the Rockingham censuses is
the son of George Vanlandingham of Northumberland, Virginia? Richard’s will
provided the evidence.
 |
| Part one of Richard's 1811 Will |
Richard
made a will on October 5, 1811. The will was probated in November of that year,
so we can assume Richard died shortly after making the will. He leaves all his
property and estate that remains after debts are settled to “my youngest son
Thomas Vanlandingham”. No mention is made of other children, male or female,
although “youngest son” implies there was at least one older son still living.
 |
| Part 2 of Richard's 1811 Will |
The will
states that the property includes “both real and person in the State of
Virginia and NorthCarolina (sic), the estate to which I laid a claim in
Virginia being an interest in a tract of land lying in the County of
Northumberland and is the share of which my Father George Vanlandingham late of
said county and state did seized and possessed and contains about two hundred
acres…”
Richard
quite clearly states George Vanlandingham of Northumberland Virginia was his
father, and he owns a share in lands given to him by his father. This two
hundred acres seems to be a separate property from the land included in George
Vanlandingham’s will, so it appears Richard had already received what his
father considered Richard’s portion of his estate.
But
Richard’s will held an additional and quite extraordinary bit of information.
Just after Richard makes his bequest to his “youngest son Thomas” there is a
notation in parentheses stating:
“(Now from
information) resident of Woodford County ana State of Kentucky.”
It appears
that on his deathbed, Richard wasn’t sure where to find his youngest son—he
believed Thomas lived in Woodford County, Kentucky, but had no verification
that the information was correct.
Imagine
losing contact with your child to such an extent that you can only guess in what
state and county he might be found! Of course, modern communications make this
a less common occurrence than in Richard’s day. In 1811, mail was delivered by
horse, and was erratic and slow. Thomas seems to have been born in 1791, so at
the time of Richard’s death in 1811, he was only twenty, not the most
responsible age. Perhaps he never bothered to write his poor father.
And why
did Thomas move away? Was there some sort of conflict between father and son,
or was Thomas just eager to make his own way in the world and decided to follow
other extended family to Kentucky? (Some of Richard’s brothers moved to
Kentucky). What happened to Richard’s other children—the two other sons and two
daughters? Had they, like Richard had, already received a portion of Richard’s
property when they reached their majority, and thus were not entitled to a
further inheritance?
I wonder
if Thomas ever returned to North Carolina to claim his inheritance. Did the
probate court track him down? It is unclear. There are other trees on Ancestry
that include a Thomas Vanlandingham who lived in Warren County, North Carolina,
and they identify our Richard as his father. However, I doubt it is the same
man. I found a separate Warren County will for a totally different Richard
Vanlandingham with a son Thomas—I think others are conflating the two Richards
and the two Thomases.
I also
found no record of Thomas in Woodford County, Kentucky around the time of
Richard’s death. Did Thomas stay in Woodford County, or did he move on to some
other location in the state? I hope Thomas returned to North Carolina or even
Northumberland, Virginia to take ownership of his father’s lands, but he may
have lost contact with his father and family forever. All that I know for sure
is that without further records, he remains lost to my family tree as well.
Sources:
Wills; Author:
North Carolina. County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (Rockingham County);
Probate Place: Rockingham, North Carolina. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/81812584/person/262471515291/facts
Ancestry.com.
Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1652-1900 [database on-line]. Lehi,
UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021. Original data:Virginia County,
District, and Probate Courts. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62347/images/007645552_00457?pId=1636172
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